Mid elevation blue lines

[PV_Premier]

The mid elevation blue lines are starting to fire up nicely. I fished one of my favorites for two hours today and was pleasantly surprised by the willingness of the resident small browns and bows to attack dry fly presentations. While it wasn’t as absent of others as I would like I also did not make much effort to get away from the road as I didn’t figure it would be needed for successful fishing and I was right.

[EricO]

That’s great to hear PV. Stoked to fish soon.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

June, on average, is the top month for mid-elevation trout streams.

During a drought it can be May.

On a heavy snow pack it might be July.



Each stream has it's own slightly different average timing though.

[PV_Premier]

Each stream has it's own slightly different average timing though.

This is very true and in my experience it depends largely on 1) how much snow melt the drainage sees and 2) how many/how big the springs are that feed in, if any.

Case in point, the stream I fished on Saturday was at 5200' elevation but doesn't have much upstream snow pack and very few springs. It gets real warm by mid-July even in a good year especially as you go a few miles further downstream.

Another creek I like is at about 3500' but takes a ton of snow melt and has abundant springs that keep it icy all year long. I find it fishes best between mid-July and early August most years, and will fish all the way until October 1st if you can get into the really isolated parts where no one else goes.

Getting deep into the "backwoods" of creek fishing in the Sierras takes many summers of trial and error, a lot of hiking and a decent dose of craziness. The hiking and descent into some of the streams can be a real pain in the neck, there are a lot of snakes, the wading can be pretty sketchy. The fish are not big, but there are a lot of them and they are very beautiful, and the simplicity of the fishing is a really nice diversion every now and then versus the shenanigans you have to go through to catch valley trout and steelhead sometimes.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Be sure to have a thermometer with you.

Trout seem to bite better between 55 and 65.

Under 50 is tough and over 70 is not healthy.


Again my information is just average advise to give everyone some basic info.

[Ed Wahl]

Those mid elevation blue lines are my all time favorites. I've been fishing the canyons for over 30 years and still not bored of smallish but exceptionally beautiful trout. The Golden Stones should be peaking on most of them right about now.

PV, I'd bet money that we've walked across each others footprints on occasion.

[PV_Premier]

Those mid elevation blue lines are my all time favorites. I've been fishing the canyons for over 30 years and still not bored of smallish but exceptionally beautiful trout. The Golden Stones should be peaking on most of them right about now.

PV, I'd bet money that we've walked across each others footprints on occasion.

Yep on the golden stones...and i hope not on the foot prints, but you are probably right. There are a lot of miles of stream out there, but us blue line crack addicts seem to explore almost all of them at some point :)

[Ed Wahl]

That's the nature of the beast.
So many canyons, so many miles of canyons.
Add the feeder streams and, well, there ya go.
The late Bill Carnazzo and I fished the exact same canyon stretches for 30 years before we hooked up at the fly shop one day.
One of the most interesting conversations I'd ever had. We were both trying to see what the other knew without giving up any info ourselves.
A canyon rat trait.
It was hilarious after awhile, when we both knew where we stood. I could add a bit to his knowledge base and he added tons more to mine.
RIP Bill, you were special.
Ed

[David Beach]

Ed, have enjoyed your posts for years. I don't do many myself. Your discussion on Canyons is close to my heart. Just fished a Canyon trib at start of the week. Lots of small rainbows. Realized I have been fishing this particular creek for over 52 years. Not many changes, still some miners but no suction dredges. I had the same type of discussion with Bill Carnazzo at a NFARA meeting once. Interesting and informative guy. We fished many of the same waters. You were right about the golden stones. Saw two adults and a few shucks. Overall, a good day on the creek, one tick, some poison oak and I didn't break my Walton Powell 8' 4 wt after a few falls...Tight lines....

[PV_Premier]

Great stories and history...

[yubaman]

I have done a fair bit of creeking as well. I use my 1 weight Sage TXL or this stuff. It's a great rod for these adventures. I have had some great finds, as well as several whiffs as well. The enjoyment of hiking into some of these small streams, where you will never find a report or any information, and having a bang up day, is hard to beat. A side angle of enjoyment for me is the abundance of mining relics and history left over on many of these small creeks from the Gold Rush era.

One expedition into one of these creek involved a 2.9 mile, 1900' vertical foot into, and out of. Unfortunately, the uphill hoof was on the way out after a full day of rock hopping under the belt. Thankfully the fishing on that creek was awesome, with some large fish to boot. I did most of these on my own, and now that I am on the other side of 60, and having had 4 knee surgeries, I am not real keen on doing these trips solo anymore. So, I find myself not spending much time investing in these adventures these days.

[PV_Premier]

I have done a fair bit of creeking as well. I use my 1 weight Sage TXL or this stuff. It's a great rod for these adventures. I have had some great finds, as well as several whiffs as well. The enjoyment of hiking into some of these small streams, where you will never find a report or any information, and having a bang up day, is hard to beat. A side angle of enjoyment for me is the abundance of mining relics and history left over on many of these small creeks from the Gold Rush era.

One expedition into one of these creek involved a 2.9 mile, 1900' vertical foot into, and out of. Unfortunately, the uphill hoof was on the way out after a full day of rock hopping under the belt. Thankfully the fishing on that creek was awesome, with some large fish to boot. I did most of these on my own, and now that I am on the other side of 60, and having had 4 knee surgeries, I am not real keen on doing these trips solo anymore. So, I find myself not spending much time investing in these adventures these days.

I’m sure you would find a few “young buck” willing partners, myself included. And I’m not much of a young buck.

[Ed Wahl]

Ed, have enjoyed your posts for years. I don't do many myself. Your discussion on Canyons is close to my heart. Just fished a Canyon trib at start of the week. Lots of small rainbows. Realized I have been fishing this particular creek for over 52 years. Not many changes, still some miners but no suction dredges. I had the same type of discussion with Bill Carnazzo at a NFARA meeting once. Interesting and informative guy. We fished many of the same waters. You were right about the golden stones. Saw two adults and a few shucks. Overall, a good day on the creek, one tick, some poison oak and I didn't break my Walton Powell 8' 4 wt after a few falls...Tight lines....

David Beach I'm honored to be mentioned in your first post. And in a good way at that.
I just got back from fishing my all time favorite small blue line. It was fantastic! Small rainbows only but in such numbers that we were laughing about it all evening.

Ran into no one all day long, just as it should be.

And it's always a nice bonus to not break your rod. ;)

Ed

[PV_Premier]

I dusted off the 1wt yesterday and had the stream to myself. Interestingly, it was the first time I have ever been snowed on while wet wading. The air temp was not that bad, and the water temp was fine, but the combination of atmospheric conditions and fairly narrow band of warm air near the surface had it spitting snow off and on despite the air temp being in the mid-40's.

Got a few on dries and also some pulling microstreamers through the deeper slots. Those little fish sure can hit a streamer hard when they want to and they will straight up chase, especially in the deeper pools.

[TaylerW]

The solitude provided by the canyons is special. I recently visited a creek I hadn’t been back to for close to 6 years. It was the exact same as I left it, besides the fact that I’m not as brash as I used to be. A few of my traverse points scared the heck out of me. The south fork has so much blue line water. I’ve been exploring it for years and have barely scratched the surface.

[motosacto]

Hit a blue line on Friday - one of the higher elevation tribs that eventually feeds into the American Rivers. Flows were strong, and every likely run had fish in it that wanted my fly. I quit counting at 20 and landed some of the prettiest dark-spotted rainbows I have ever seen in only 3 hours. Good times...